If you haven't attended one of these US shows that have big raffles, you've missed an interesting slice of bonsai life! Do other countries do these raffles? People donate really nice stuff.... trees, pots, stands, suiseki, books, jewelry (really!) scrolls, hapi coats, paintings and drawings, gift certificates, bottles of wine (good wine)....
Then the attendees buy sometimes a hundred dollars worth of tickets!
Some people have special rubber stamps to mark their tickets, with their names. Really special items are given their own little container, so if you want your ticket drawn for that special thing, you put the ticket(s) in the special container. Once a ticket has been drawn from that special container, all the other tickets are thrown away. There's a big rolling cage for the general tickets, so that they tumble and tumble and get good and mixed up. People have all sorts of philosophies about when, how, and how often to slip their tickets into the big cage thing. Some people only put in a few at a time... some put a slight dent into the ticket so that it sort of sticks out... like gambling, it has its own superstitions and strategies.
It's a BIG fundraiser, and the crowd enjoys it, as long as the person reading the numbers is quick and funny. Joe James is very good at it, so is JT. They know a lot of the names from past experience, and they read the names or numbers in such a way that it keeps you on the edge of your seat.
That's why choosing something for these raffles is important. You don't put in items that you don't want anymore, like some little cheesy club raffle. You put in good items that people appreciate and are anxious to win. Like Mike's olive.
Joanie